Ladies Day victory for the Bluebirds

On what was the Bluebirds biggest day of the season, Chelmsford Ladies hosted Chobham Women to celebrate Ladies Day at the club. With an early kick off at 11am on the 11th November, a beautifully respected 2 minutes silence was held to mark Remembrance weekend.

The game kicked off in bright sunshine in front of a decent crowd, Bluebirds playing down the slope for the first half. Chelmsford started strongly, and within first 5 minutes went over for their first try with Brenda Stubar touching down on the right, giving Jess Matthews a tricky and unsuccessful attempt at the conversion for an early 5-0 lead to the Bluebirds. Chelmsford continued to pile the pressure on Chobham and shortly after, a beautiful backs move getting the ball through the hands out to Anna Gray on the wing saw her score Chelmsford's second try, again a difficult angle for the conversion, Bluebirds 10-0 to the good. Several scrums and some lengthy defensive work from Chobham saw the Bluebirds pressure tell again as Marcys Jackowska's characteristic pace showed for her to go over the line for Chelmsfords 3rd try in 20 minutes, this time converted by Jess Matthews for a 17-0 lead.

Chobham started to apply pressure of their own, forcing a string of penalties from the home side, but unable to convert their pressure into points, with some stubborn defensive work from the Bluebirds 2nd Rower Harri Wells. After another good break down the right wing, Anna Gray thought she had touched down for her second try of the match only to be denied by the official for what was deemed to be a double movement. Undeterred, the Bluebirds regathered and after another period of sustained pressure, Abi Harman, soon to be departing for some sunshine Down Under, went over for her first try of the season and the Bluebirds 4th, giving them the try bonus point, and with Jess Matthews converting, a 24-0 half time lead.

Whatever was in the Chobham oranges certainly showed in the second half, and after what must have been a stirring half time team talk by the coaches, the Chobham women came out the blocks strongly, using the slope to their advantage to hit back early with the first of their 3 tries. 24-5. Sustained pressure from Chobham, and some untidy Bluebirds defending saw the Chobham full back touch down for her second try to pull the scores back to 24-10. Nerves in the Bluebirds ranks started to show and a loss of structure allowed Chobham to touch down again and pull the score back to 24-15 - game on!

Towards the back end of the match, Bluebirds confidence started to return, and after making one of her characteristic breaks from the centre, Ellie Lawther went over the try line to add some breathing space with what was the final score of the game, and in turn giving the Bluebirds a 29-15 win on what was an important day for both the ladies team and the club against an extremely spirited Chobham side.

Tries: Brenda Stubar, Anna Gray, Marcys Jackowska, Abi Harman, Ellie Lawther
Conv: Jess Matthews (2)
Photo Credit: Lee Wainwright